Monday, January 18, 2016

The Future of Jobs: Recommendations for Action

The Davos World Economic Forum has labored mightily to bring forth a report on The Future of Jobs, which contains the following "Recommendations for Action":

While the implications of accelerating disruptive change to business models are far-reaching—even daunting— for employment and skills, rapid adjustment to the new reality and the opportunities it offers is possible, provided there is concerted effort by all stakeholders. For government, it will entail innovating within education and labour-related policymaking, requiring a skills evolution of its own. For the education and training sector, it will mean vast new business opportunities as it provides new services to individuals, entrepreneurs, large corporations and the public sector. The sector may become a noteworthy new source of employment itself.

For businesses to capitalize on new opportunities, they will need to put talent development and future workforce strategy front and centre to their growth. Firms can no longer be passive consumers of ready-made human capital. They require a new mindset to meet their talent needs and to optimize social outcomes. This entails several major changes in how business views and manages talent, both immediately and in the longer term. In particular, there are four areas with short term implications and three that are critical for long term resilience...

May I summarize? In point form, then:

rapid adjustment!

new reality!

concerted effort!

innovating!

front and centre!

new mindset (to optimize resilience)!

Executive Summary: new reality! = new mindset! Or, cancelling out the "new" on either side of the equation: reality! = mindset!
Clearly, the future ain't what it used to be.